The Bite of Black Marsh
by EZman21
Summary: A group of Dunmer enter the swamp of Black Marsh with adverse intentions. When blood is spilled, the cry of the Hist is answered by a sinister defender.


**The Bite of Black Marsh (Inspired by "Exhumed" TSFH)**

The retinue of Dark Elves sloshed through the muck and slime of the infamous Black Marsh. Vithi Dres walked with the Telvanni councilor Enorath and a troupe of Redoran retainers. They stood out like a sore thumb with their fine robes and shining armor that Vithi was sure would be ruined if they continued down this dirt path. Even during the middle of the day Enorath had to summon a light and the retainers carried torches beneath the mangrove umbrella. Vithi felt uneasy in this unnerving natural twilight.

"I'm beginning to question your plan, Enorath," Vithi said.

Somehow the old grouchy wizard did not have a speck of dirt on him.

"And what questions do you have, Vithi?" Enorath grumbled, "How else will your House regain its former glory? Why we have to slog in this backwater?"

"Do we know where we're going? Was it wise to go blind into this swamp?" Vithi raised her voice.

"Do not take that tone with a Master Wizard of House Telvanni," Enorath growled.

"Hadril gets away with it all the time," Vithi argued.

"He most certainly does not!" Enorath said offended.

"At every meeting he does," Vithi said, "We're losing ground to House Redoran every time."

"Telvanni has no strong support," Enorath glared at her.

"House Dres has as much say as Indoril, Redoran, and Telvanni," Vithi said in a low voice.

"We need more say, Dres," Enorath sneered, "And we can't do that if we have to keep up our fields or making our own meals,"

"Let's just get out of this swamp as soon as possible," Vithi trudged on ahead.

They had not entered Black Marsh from any formal port. Vithi had suggested they land in Thorn or farther down in Alten Corimont, but Enorath decided on a tiny break in the mangrove trees just east of the village of Riverwalk although that was not the target. The town may have been deep in Argonian territory, but the recent Aldmeri Dominion activity had every sizeable settlement armed to the teeth. With the Elves' defeats in the Marsh, Cyrodiil, and Hammerfell though, Vithi hoped some of the smaller settlements would be more relaxed.

Their true target was the Hatching Pools between Riverwalk and the town of Branchmont. A hundred years at least had passed since any Dunmer had made this trek. Their goal was simple; grab what they came for and be back on the ship to Vvardenfell before House Redoran missed their retainers. Vithi could not fathom how Enorath was able to navigate this natural labyrinth. The murky water hissed and bubbled and Vithi was sure she saw something disappear below the surface. The trees buzzed and chattered with life that flitted between the branches. What dry land they could find was riddled with the strange two-legged, frog mouthed lizards called guar or the tusked, angry Kagouti of larger stature. Even the fierce Redorans were shuffling nervously.

The dusty old mage was the only one unfazed. With a flick of his staff the Kagouti bolted away, and the guar lazily meandered in the other direction. Vithi wished he would do something about the damn birds, though. She groaned in disgust as another dropping splatted on her shoulder. Next time Vithi was in Mournhold she would see an enchanter about the stains and about the mud and dirt that seemed to find its way everywhere else. Perhaps she could see a tailor instead. Even though there would be no immediate profit from this venture, she would have money for all the fine things she wanted in time.

As true night fell the Hatching Pools came into view through the low hanging branches. Three stair stepped pyramids formed the perimeter. They were all made of rough stone and covered with the square likenesses of their Argonian creators. Vithi found this primal style repulsive and barbaric. There was really no wonder they had been slaves for so long. The Dunmer had done them a favor by bringing them to Morrowind. Hopefully, they would remedy this problem.

In the center of everything was an enormous tree. The tree sat high on roots thicker than every other tree around. The trunk could have held the entire group with plenty of room to spare. The branches spider webbed out into clusters of leaves. Odd glowing fruits hung down like lanterns from vines and cast a warm glow on the Dark Elves' prize cozily nestled around the roots. Several clutches of Argonian eggs lay waiting for the little ones within to greet the world. Vithi lurched forward greedily for the eggs but Enorath stretched his staff in front of her. Without a word he pointed to the Argonians milling about. Vithi knew they were savages, but she realized they were not stupid. These were their children after all. Enorath had thought of that in advance though. With a wave of his staff the Dunmer party vanished from view. Vithi sighed.

"How am I supposed to pick up an egg if I can't see my hands?" Vithi whispered.

Enorath merely grunted, and Vithi was sure he made a dismissive hand motion. They moved as quietly as they could through the pools. The Argonians seemed none the wiser. Many clustered like priests around little shrines of stick bundles and stretched out painted leather. All the others milled about tucking the eggs more snuggly in their little nests. Not many of them were armed and what they had were mere flint knapped hand implements. Vithi was suddenly less worried about being discovered although she received a rap on the head from Enorath's staff when she splashed too loud in the water beneath the tree. She was surprised the old codger could see her, but he was a powerful mage. T

he Argonian midwives hovered around the nests and made the snatching difficult, but they managed somehow. Each of the Dunmer had a satchel with room enough for two of the eggs. When a midwife turned her back an egg would disappear in the invisible bags. They made a dent in the numbers but hopefully not enough the Argonians would notice right away. Enorath had planned this very carefully. Vithi managed with some difficulty to get two eggs and waded carefully out of the pool. However, she was not quite careful enough. One of the roots lifted itself out of nowhere and caught Vithi's foot. She tripped and smacked into an Argonian and sent them both tumbling to the ground. The lizard woman was back on her feet in an instant frantically scanning for her assailant. Water dripped and outlined her perfectly and the eggs slowly rolled out of her satchel, and to add insult to injury, the enchantment wore off and she appeared patches at a time.

"Dunmer swine!" The Argonian screamed, "Get out! Get Out!"

The Argonian took a step toward Vithi and erupted into flame. Enorath stepped into full view. He looked at Vithi and shook his head in disappointment. The Argonians could not know what they were doing, and more importantly, this news could not get back to Hadril.

"Kill them." Enorath sighed.

Then the retainers came into view. Vithi knew invisibility enchantments are difficult to keep up when there is quick movement, but that would not have been a problem for Enorath. He was just not trying. Those closest midwives were cut down before the armed Argonians could react, and when they did, just as Vithi had predicted, they were no match for the Redorans. Only now did the Argonians at the little shrines look up to find the Dunmer rushing towards them. Vithi almost felt sorry for them, but one of the priests did not go down so easily. He held against the Redorans with nothing but a mundane staff. Vithi was impressed. This 'savage' was taking on ten highly trained Redoran fighters with extraordinary skill. Suddenly her tiny knife seemed like little protection.

Enorath was not in the mood for this show. He simply strode up and blasted the Argonians with magicka energy. The poor lizard flew back into the pyramid and smacked against the stone. Everyone but Enorath flinched at the ear-splitting shattering of the Argonian's back. The Telvanni was not through, though. He grasped the Argonian's horns right where ears should have been and dragged him belly up across the mucky ground and threw him down before the Hist tree roots. The Argonian groaned in pain but would not give Enorath the pleasure of a scream.

"Now where does a lizard learn to fight like that?" Enorath condescended.

The Argonian spat blood, "Cyrodiil"

"Oh, are you one of those 'guerillas' Hadril so generously hosted?" Enorath rolled his eyes.

"Keezul-Tei," The Argonian coughed.

"I neither asked nor care," Enorath said disdainfully.

Blood flowed freely in the pools. It poured from every Argonian who lay there dying. It wound its way through the reeds and grasses and dripped into the water around the Hist roots. The pools began to fill with crimson, but Vithi noticed something odd. The billows did not turn the whole pool red as one would expect. The blood swirled and snaked around the roots of the tree until it disappeared within. Vithi thought it was just her eyes playing tricks, but she could have sworn that the roots pulsed with each drink it took. Keezul-Tei suddenly chuckled.

"What do you find so funny, lizard?" Enorath growled.

"You've angered the Hist," Keezul gurgled.

"What? Your mud trees?" Enorath scoffed, "I'd burn it down now if it suited my purposes. I have no time for your superstitions."

"Then fear the mundane," Keezul spat and added with difficulty, "When comm…ander Hits-and-Runs hears of this…"

"He'll end up just like you," Enorath was suddenly angry, "You think you stinking beasts are a threat to me? Or any of the Dunmer people? Nothing, and I mean nothing, not you, not your commander, and not your all powerful Hist can stop me!"

A blood chilling scream split the air. At least, Vithi could only describe the noise that way. It was some sort of barking between a laugh and a scream. The scream was so unnerving that the strength left Vithi's knees. Keezul-Tei chuckled again.

"The Hist is crueler than I thought," Keezul managed to stay.

"What? Some beast of the swamp come to punish the evil wizard?" Enorath chuckled.

"Worse," Keezul-Tei said through gritted teeth, "Grey-Scale."

"Ah, another one of you?" Enorath said.

"You wish," Were Keezul's last words.

Enorath merely shook his head.

"Clean up this mess," He waved his hands over the bodies, "The wildlife will make it look like an accident."

Vithi began to feel an odd buzz at the base of her skull. The feeling only grew stronger as the Redorans piled the bodies around the Hist. The blood continued to swirl into the roots. Vithi's buzzing head began to throb. She glanced at the roots again to find the pulsing of the roots beat in tome with the throbbing of her head. The buzzing too, became more than just buzzing. The pitch rose such that the buzzing began to sound like screaming. Her gaze was drawn to the Hist tree. It loomed menacingly above her. The branches reached out and enclosed her and the trunk stretched to the sky. Vithi's breathing grew deeper until a cry brought her back to reality.

"Company!" Cried one of the retainers.

Everyone whipped around with weapons drawn, even Vithi with her little knife. A single Argonian emerged from the swamp. He strolled up as casually as if this were a city street. Horns stuck off his head at odd angles like stray hairs. The only clothes he wore were crocodile skin boots and pants with feathered bracers on his arms. A bone necklace hung from his neck. In both hands, he held proper, metal twin axes decorated with blood red feathers. Vithi found it most disconcerting the edges of his weapons were stained and marred as if the Argonian never cleaned the blood of them. Similar stains decorated his grey scales. Across his face stretched a crocodile smile.

"Another body for the pile," Enorath hardly looked up.

One retainer moved to slay the Argonian, but before he could get close, the Argonian flung his axe and hit the retainer in the throat. The Dark Elf collapsed choking in the ground. Blood spewed like a fountain while the poor soul was still alive. The Redorans turned their full attention and another charged. The lizard easily ducked her swing and followed his three powerful blows to her gut with the third cutting her wide open. She fell to the ground screaming in pain. The Argonian wretched his axe out of the still twitching Redoran and twirled it in his hand. A third Dunmer attacked. His blow was easily brushed aside. The Argonian buried the entirety of his axe heads into the retainer's shoulders and kicked him roughly to the ground. The Argonian left him writhing. The smile never left his face.

The remaining Redorans approached more closely and all the noise finally captured Enorath's attention. Vithi cowered behind the stairs leading up the pyramid. The retainers carefully circled the mad. Enorath gazed curiously at the butchery as if it were one of his experiments. The lizard hardly noticed them. He instead stared at the broken body of Keezul-Tei.

"Oh, Keez," The Argonian clicked his tongue and shook his head, "I told you kids were a bad idea."

A Redoran took a swing. The Argonian dodged, spun around, and used his thick tail to sweep the feet out from under his assailant. When the Dunmer hit the ground the Argonian sliced down the spine and then again across the small of the back. The retainer lay there, paralyzed face down in a growing pool of blood.

"The Hist said you have been very, very naughty," The Argonian wagged his finger, "Although who can blame you for wanting fresh, Argonian omelets? They are quite delicious, and I speak from personal experience." "How did you know we were here?" Enorath asked.

"The Hist called me of course, I thought I said," The Argonian scratched his head, "Even you should have been able to hear the screaming."

Vithi touched her buzzing skull.

"A screaming tree? A spriggan?" Enorath asked confused.

"No just a Hist Tree." The Argonian said.

"Are you insane?" Enorath asked confused.

"No, I'm Grey-Scale," The Argonian said cheerfully, "Good to meet you."

Enorath eyed the lizard man up and down unsure what to make of him. The old wizard put no stock in the notion that the Hist tree was anything like Argonians described and the lizard was clearly mad, that much was certain. The Redorans seemed to be building the courage to strike. Grey-Scale stared each of them in the eyes in turn. Then he looked to Vithi. Even from a distance, his gaze sent shivers down Vithi's spine. She could not comprehend the calm madness that bore into her. Grey-Scale beckoned to her.

"Come on out little smudge elf," Grey-Scale giggled, "Come join us."

"What did you say?" Enorath growled.

"Smudge elf," Grey-Scale smiled and cocked his head.

"Perhaps these ears are beginning to fail me," Enorath said through gritted teeth, "But I could have sworn you said 'smudge elf.'"

"You can't hear me from that far away?" Grey-Scale rubbed his chin, "You smudgies do not age well, do you?"

Enorath let off a blast of magicka so powerful it knocked the retainers off their feet. An enormous cloud of mud and dust kicked up and obscured Vithi's view. All she could see was Enorath shaking with rage. The Redorans back coughing out of the cloud. Without wind, the dust took time to settle, and when it did, Vithi was left staring in disbelief. Grey-Scale stood in the center of the falling cloud unharmed. He merely brushed off of his shoulders and axes. Vithi could faintly make out some kind of glowing rune etched into his bone necklace before it faded.

"That wasn't very nice," Grey-Scale rolled his shoulders.

Enorath could hardly bring himself to speak. He pointed a shaking finger at the mad Argonian and managed to eek out, "Kill him."

The Redorans levelled weapons but none made a move toward Grey-Scale. The lizard grinned ear to ear at the sound of this challenge. He twirled his axes in his hand, then, to Vithi's horror, he let out the unearthly scream they had heard from so far away. Vithi nearly wet herself from the noise. Grey-Scale lunged forward and, with a manic grin, fell upon the Redorans. The first Redoran fell, faster than Vithi could blink, bleeding through a cleaved jaw. The second screamed at the loss of his hand just before his head followed. Vithi felt bile welling in her stomach with each death. The retainers finally were able to coordinate themselves, but this served only to prolong their lives a few minutes. The next Redoran received one axe to the foot while the other sliced him hip to shoulder. The last three began to backpedal. Enorath too, picked up his egg satchel and backed away from the scene. Once another Redoran fell to an axe buried in his eyes, Vithi lost her nerve and bolted in the swamp without her satchel.

Vithi tore through bushes, vines, and shallow pools with no other thought than to get away. More than once a crocodile pounced from the water, but Vithi ran much too fast to be caught. She even burst through a herd of guar, which panicked and set off in all directions nearly trampling her in the process. Vithi ran right into a patch of deep mud that stopped her in her tracks. She struggled with all her might and managed to free herself at the cost of one of her fine boots. Ignoring the pain in her bare foot she ran farther and farther until finally she was out of breath. She collapsed against a nearby boulder.

Once she finally had herself under control she took in her surroundings. The trees had grown thicker and the dry ground was just about to give way to a submerged mangrove forest. Even with all the noise of the wildlife around her, Vithi's head pounded in her ears from her frantic escape. At least the buzzing had stopped. Through her tunnel vision, however, she made out tree trunks and mud arranged in some semblance of order. Vithi concluded this must have been the walls of an Argonian village. She rose to make her way there. These Argonians would have no idea of her actions at the Hatching Pools and they hopefully would be kind enough to offer respite and point her back to Thorn. But Vithi was not that lucky.

She heard a _wump, wump_ , then was thrown forward onto her face with a biting, sharp pain. Vithi pulled her head out of the mud to find one of Grey-Scale's axes imbedded in her right shoulder. She was too far in shock to scream from the pain. After a scaly boot pressed down on her back and the weapon was wretched from her shoulder, however, she found a way. Copious amounts of blood poured from the wound and mixed into the mud beneath her. With her good arm, she struggled into a kneeling position. There Grey-Scale stood, shaking his head at her.

"You left so soon little smudgy," He said, "You snatched eggs too you know."

"I-I I don't have any though! I didn't really take any! And I didn't kill anyone either!" Vithi said frantically, "I'll-I'll go! And I won't come back! There's no need to kill me!"

"Said the wounded Kagouti to the Wamasu," Grey-Scale chuckled, "My dear a snake is a snake even with footprints in its wake."

"Wait! Please! We can work this out, right? I can offer payment! Gold! Goods! Anything!" Vithi pleaded.

"Don't worry, your death should work fine," Grey-Scale shrugged.

"No! No! Wait! Wait!" Vithi tried to beg as Grey-Scale brought his boot down on her head.

The blood from her wound had made a decent puddle and Vithi's head plunged right through it and deep into the mud. She struggled with all her might but it was no use. Mud wormed its way up into her nostrils and pressed against her lips. Blood oozed into her ears and blocked out all sound but the increasing beating of her own heart. Her lungs burned for want of air. Her eyes pounded in their sockets. Her head tingled and buzzed as all her muscles tensed, until her lungs finally seemed to give out. Vithi prepared for the inevitable. And then the pressure was released from her head and she burst out of the mud. She sucked in air and mud alike into her empty lungs. Then she coughed and hacked all the foreign matter out of her body. When all the blood drained from her ears she heard the struggle of her savior. One of the Redorans had survived and was wrestling Grey-Scale, but the upper hand belonged to the Argonian. The retainer looked over in fear at the stunned Vithi.

"Run, you fool!" She screamed.

Then Grey-Scale decided he had had enough of the tussle and clamped his jaws around the Redoran's neck. Vithi began to crawl, but she could not look away as Grey-Scale ripped the throat out of the final Redoran retainer. No one would save her now.

Once again Vithi was off into the swamp. This time though, she could practically hear the panting of Grey-Scale on her heels. As she ran her wound pumped more and more blood. She clamped her hand on it as best she could, but she was becoming light headed and knew she could not keep up this pace for long. She looked around desperately for a place to hide. Under a low ridge sat a cave with a mouth just bigger than Vithi. Without a second thought she dove right in. The cave mouth sloped downward and Vithi tumbled down the rocky passage. The pain in her shoulder strengthened with each jolt. She could hardly focus on anything else. When she finished tumbling she groaned and propped herself up against the cave wall. Her vision returned in full. A pair of torches lit the space. The cave was a small home. There were books stacked on shelf-like rock formations, and a small altar shaped formation topped with a stick statue with stretched animal hide over it with a red painted tree. A small pile of hide blankets and straw seemed to indicate a bed in the corner.

"If you wanted to see my home you could have just asked," Grey-Scale said behind her.

Vithi curled up as tight as she could against the wall. Grey-Scale leaned closely over her face. She saw clearly the blood around his hideous maw and the crimson stained teeth within.

"Perhaps you can do better than dying," Grey-Scale nodded, and with one blow, Vithi was launched into unconsciousness.

When she woke, Vithi became aware both of her hands were tied behind her back. The rest of the room had hardly changed at all aside from Grey-Scale sitting before the altar and Enorath stretched from ceiling to floor tied upside down. He had been stripped down to his smallclothes, but aside from a few bruises though, he looked unharmed. Vithi tried to get his attention without a sound, but he was out like a light. Grey-Scale stood and Vithi pressed herself against the wall. The Argonian did not turn to face her, but instead grabbed a bucket and threw water onto the sleeping Enorath.

"Gah!" He sputtered, "What is this? Who dares!"

"I dares," Grey-Scale bent to meet Enorath's gaze.

"I am a Master Wizard of House Telvanni and I demand you release me!" Enorath wriggled in his bonds.

"And I am a Master Lizard of this cave!" Grey-Scale laughed, "And I demand you stay right there, boop!" the Argonian tapped Enorath's nose.

"What do you want, you savage?" Enorath sneered.

"We are going to go on a little trip, you, me, and your little friend over there," Grey-Scale said.

"In these bonds?" Enorath snorted.

"Oho, not that kind of trip," Grey-Scale took three cups off the table.

Enorath recoiled, "I'm not drinking that."

"It's down your throat or up your nose, oh wait, reverse those directions," Grey-Scale chuckled at his own humor.

When Enorath refused to drink the concoction in the cups, Grey-Scale did pour the liquid down his nose until the Dark Elf had no choice but to open his mouth and let the rest of it fall in. After he was sure Enorath swallowed enough, Grey-Scale turned his attentions to Vithi. This time he merely held out the cup without saying a word. Vithi leaned forward to drink. Grey-Scale tipped it until Vithi had taken all the thick, sickly sweet potion. Immediately her eyes began to swim and her mind was muddled, and that was the last thing Vithi remembered.

Her mind fell through endless space yet along winding paths until she was deposited in a place of old green growth and ancient stone. She sat in a place that looked like a chamber to an old stone temple. Enorath was there too looking wildly. When he saw Vithi, he said nothing and hardly acknowledged she was there. Vithi had never seen him panic like this. She cautiously made her way into the center of the room that was lit by a mysterious source of light.

"Why?" Boomed a great, deep voice.

Vithi and Enorath spun wildly to find the source.

"Why have you defiled our roots?" Said another voice.

"What is this?" Enorath said furiously.

"How plead you to the Hist?" A third voice said.

 _The Hist?_ Vithi thought, had Keezul-Tei been right after all?

"I will not plead to a damn tree," Enorath said firmly, "What did that damn lizard do to me?"

"You dishonor us, and our people" The voices seemed to merge together.

"Indeed, he does," Grey-Scale was suddenly there, "I caught him in the act."

"What have you done to me!" Enorath demanded from Grey-Scale. Vithi was, apparently, not a concern.

"I've merely brought you to the Hist for judgement," Grey-Scale grinned. Vithi's breathing quickened.

"You have brought atrocity to Black Marsh once again," The voices of the Hist said together, "blood contaminates our roots."

"I've come to bring Argonians out of the muck once again!" Enorath argued.

"Ah, to enslave our young again. I knew it," Grey-Scale shook his head.

"We know the pain of our people," The voices said, "What you have done is unforgivable."

"Please! We didn't know!" Vithi pleaded, "We'll leave! W-without the eggs! We'll never return! We're sorry!"

"Lies!" The Hist snapped. A vine slapped Vithi's face.

"Ow!" Vithi cried.

"Pull yourself together, Vithi," Enorath barked, "This is an illusion. A trick. Nothing has power over us here."

The ground opened up beneath Enorath. He leapt to the side, but not far enough. He tumbled, but snagged the edge before he went all the way. Vithi sat there frozen in fear. Living vines reached from the chasm and wrapped themselves around the dour old wizard. Despite his convictions, Enorath screamed as the vines dragged him down into the abyss and gods know where.

"And for you…" The Hist voices growled menacingly.

Before the Hist could finish however, Vithi was wretched back to reality. In an instant, she went from the oppressing room to staring into the face of another Argonian. This Argonian did not have the murderous look of Grey-Scale and Vithi sighed in relief. She even came to find her bonds had been cut.

"Hits-and-Runs, this one is up," The Argonian said.

"Good," The one named Hits replied. That Argonian stared intently at the unconscious Grey-Scale.

"What's happening?" Vithi asked.

"Silence," Was the curt reply.

A whole group of Argonians crowded the room and were fixated on Grey-Scale. After a few tense moments, Grey-Scale twitched. Every Argonian flinched as he rose to his feet. He seemed angry, but behind that insane face it was hard for Vithi to tell.

"Why did you bring her out?" Grey-Scale hissed.

"You've gone too far, Grey," Hits hissed back.

"I just brought them to the Hist for judgement," Grey-Scale shrugged.

"We can't judge outsiders by the Hist," Hits argued.

"I just did," Grey-Scale smiled.

On cue Enorath started screaming. He had not awoken as Vithi had. His eyes were still closed and the screaming was unlike Vithi had ever heard. Before the sound could burst her ears, Hits-and-Runs cut off Enorath's head in one deft swing of a jagged sword.

"Well that was the Hist's prize, so you can answer to them for that," Grey-Scale said.

"Grey, you're done, we're taking this Dunmer back to Thorn," Hits said, "And you know not all the Hist agree."

"Whaaat? After what they did?" Grey-Scale whined.

"Yes. Grey," Hits said, "And I've seen what you left of them. They've suffered enough, and our eggs will be fine,"

"Oh well, if you say so," Grey-Scale shrugged.

"Really? Just like that Grey?" Hits asked suspiciously.

"Yes, yes, the moment's gone anyway," Grey-Scale said wistfully.

"Alright then," Hits said cautiously.

"I always do," Grey-Scale smiled.

Before they could get Vithi clear, Grey-Scale lunged. He wrapped his jaw around her neck and clamped down. Vithi felt the sharp points of each and every tooth pierce her skin. The others ripped him off. Vithi's windpipe was fine, but tiny beads of hot blood dripped down her neck.

"Something to remember me by," Grey-Scale said through bloody teeth.

Hits punched him into unconsciousness and they left. They may have been Vithi's saviors and healed her wounds, but this group of Argonians looked at her no less murderously than Grey-Scale had. She was led roughly and without pause across the swamp. Fortunately, it seemed Vithi had ended up north of the Hatching Pools so the trip was not as long as she anticipated. They walked through the night without pause until they were safely behind the walls of Thorn, and even then, Hits-and-Runs hurried her to her ship. Most of the crew bore the signs of battle. The Argonians had found the Dunmer ship waiting for Vithi and her comrades just off the coast and had captured it and learned of Enorath's plans. Hits had recognized Grey-Scale's handiwork at the pools at tracking from there had been very simple for him. As Vithi embarked, Hits-and-Runs grabbed her bad shoulder.

"Count your blessings, Dunmer" Hits growled under his breath, "Spread this cautionary tale to all your would-be slaver friends. I'm not saving any more from Grey-Scale."

He shoved Vithi on deck and turned his back. Vithi reasoned his plan all along was to send someone back to Morrowind, at least after what Grey-Scale had done. Otherwise, he would have sunk the ship and left her to die. After her experience, however, she was sure no Dunmer would attempt slaving in a long time.

The ship could not sail away fast enough. Vithi tucked herself below decks before a vine, tooth, or axe could get her. She found a mirror. The fresh bite wounds around her neck hung like a macabre, crimson necklace. Vithi turned to the porthole to see the Thorn docks drifting away, but on the shore away from the city stood a lone figure. She nervously rubbed her neck as Grey-Scale smiled. He snapped his jaws once then ran laughing back into the swamp. Vithi shivered even as she floated farther and farther out of his reach. Even if she did not have the reminder on her neck, she would never forget the Bite of Black Marsh.


End file.
